This week Will Leschber abridged the blog and boils downs some seasonal suggestions.
Alright everyone out there in Theater Pub land, it’s that time of year where everyone has one too many projects to juggle and always more things to be done. SO since I am currently out of town and will madly be entering tech week of a show upon my return, I’ll keep this brief.
It’s nearing Halloween and we are all looking for some entertaining scares to go with our pumpkin lattes. I figured some theatrical and cinematic suggestions wouldn’t be out of turn.
First off, I suggest wishing fellow blogger (and my lovely wife), Ashley Cowan Leschber a wonderful Happy Birthday. If you don’t she gets pretty SCARRRY!
OK, on with the show…
THEATRE: Horror theatre or scary plays are not the most commonly produced thing. But this time of year is perfect for such things! Terror-Rama is a bloody, grind-house theatrical double feature experience where audiences will get equal parts serial-killer gore and campy horror comedy. This plug is a bit shameless considering that I am part of the production, but I’m confident in saying this night has something scary for everyone: Laughs, scares, scars, blood, tears, dead raccoons. Terror-Rama plays Oct 17- Nov 1st, Fridays and Saturdays (and Thursday the 30th) at the EXIT Theatre.
FILM: The Historic Castro Theatre is one of the best places in the city to take in old film and nothing says cinematic Halloween quite like classic horror films. On the 23rd of October this great repertory theater is playing a Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi double feature with 1934’s The Black Cat and 1935’s The Raven. Both films were strong staples that cemented Universal as place as the home of classic frights on Halloween movie nights. The films may seem a bit cheesy now but Karloff and Lugosi are pillars of classic scary movies for a reason. At their best they are magnetic and unsettling. Check em out!
HOME ENTERTAINMENT: Sometimes curling up with some Halloween candy and a scary movie is best (if you’ve already seen all the spooky theatre in town;). So in keeping with the double-bill theme this far, here are two recommendations for Streaming Netflix viewing. If you are looking for an unsettling crime story to rattle your nightmares, I SAW THE DEVIL is it. This Korean film is a front runner for best revenge/serial killer film to come out in the last decade…probably longer than that. The scope of this detective cat and mouse tale is expansive and yet it also rummages around in local fears we all have for not being able to protect those closest to us against the darkness in this world. Like no other film out there, I SAW THE DEVIL gives a face to Nietzsche’s aphorism “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.” This tale is pitch black and if you wish to look into darkness, look no further than what lies here.
Lastly, if you like your frights a little lighter maybe you should stream TROLL HUNTER instead. This 2010 Swedish film is a favorite amongst found footage film fans. It’s fun! It’s filled full of scares! And it’s delightful! Watch and laugh and scream. You won’t regret it.
If all else fails and none of these choices are your Halloween jam, you can always try and find ERNEST SCARED STUPID. That movie is the shit.
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